Toronto International Film Festival unveils 2020 line-up

The Toronto International Film Festival has unveiled a line-up including the directorial debut of Regina King and the latest documentaries from Frederick Wiseman and Werner Herzog.

The festival, which is set to run from September 10-19, has plotted a largely virtual 45th edition due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In normal years, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is the largest film festival in North America. This year, it has drastically scaled down its plans and scrapped 50 films or TV series from around the world, leaning on projects set to debut on streaming services or television this autumn.

Cameron Bailey, artistic director and co-head of the festival, acknowledged it was far from TIFF’s regular lineup.

He said: “We began this year planning for a 45th Festival much like our previous editions, but along the way we had to rethink just about everything. This year’s line-up reflects that tumult. The names you already know are doing brand new things this year, and there’s a whole crop of exciting new names to discover.”

Some of the notable films include the 90-year-old Wiseman’s City Hall, a portrait of Boston’s City Hall; Regina King’s drama about a young Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, titled One Night In Miami; Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer’s Apple TV+ meteorite documentary Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds; Pieces Of A Woman, Kornel Mundruczo’s family drama with Shia LaBeouf; and Glendyn Ivin’s Penguin Bloom, with Naomi Watts.

Toronto earlier announced that Spike Lee’s filmed version of David Byrne’s Broadway theatrical concert American Utopia, an HBO release, will open this year’s festival.

The major autumn festivals – Venice, Toronto, Telluride and New York – earlier announced an alliance, saying they would collaborate on programming.

Since then, Colorado’s Telluride has been cancelled but reborn as a drive-in series in Los Angeles. The festivals earlier announced Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland will debut across all four events.

Toronto organisers say they continue to work with health officials to determine how and if it can host in-person events. With travel restricted between the US and Canadian border, it has urged many festival-goers who flock to Toronto to stay at home.